Date:         Tue, 2 Apr 2002 10:20:02 EST
Reply-To:     Willolyn99@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bill Marshall <Willolyn99@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Accelerator cable snap
Comments: To: dkcomet@yahoo.com, gstearns@optonline.net, kenwilfy@comcast.net,
          cyranoleo@yahoo.com, vgonman@earthlink.net, selten2@attbi.com,
          steve_hoge@who.net, poll7356@uidaho.edu, dts@xmission.com,
          meguinn@HOTMAIL.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Hi folks,
     A note on my latest adventure.  While driving in a parking garage at the
airport, to pick up my wife, my cable snapped.  Pedal fell to the floor, and
I was left with idle speed.  The Tiico did well, climbing up ramps in 2nd
gear at 1000 rpm idle with no problems.  After retrieving the wife, I crawled
under (in the dark) and stuck some of the frayed ends into the set screw,
threw on a cable tie, enough to get home.
     In addressing the problem, I figured that the whole setup just sucked.
The Tiico cable just threads throught the set-screw, which tightens down on
the cable itself.  That is probably what caused it to fail after 1 1/2 years.
 I also think that the set-screw setup did not rotate easily to accomodate
the changed angles that the pedal makes when you step on it.  The crunching
and twisting ate through the cable.
     To remedy this, I went in a completely new direction.  I retwisted the
cable as much as I could, and cut off the frayed part.  I went to Home Depot
and got cable swages (1/16" size), and using vise-grips as a swager I made a
loop out of the end of the cable.  This gave a nice gentle curve to the cable
- no more kinks and pressure points.  To attach this to the pedal, I bought
an eye bolt (#8, 1 1/2") and put the eye through the cable loop (flexible
joint) and ran the threaded part through the set-screw hole.  Tightened the
set-screw on it and voila!  No more pinching, no more torquing, bomb-proof
and permanent.
     The whole pedal setup was pretty lame in my van.  My original
accelerator cable broke in the same area, right behind where the solid part
on the end joined the cable part.  I think the set-screw part didn't rotate
freely, and it caused the cable to be flexed back and forth enough to fatigue
it and snap it.  I think this new addition will address that and at least
avoid the effects of it, if not fix it.
     Thanks for your ear, I feel better now.

Bill Marshall
85 GL Tiico
Phoenix